Shell Class visit the beach
Shell Class had a wonderful first session on the beach, filled with exploration, learning, and a little bit of magic! We began by talking about how to stay safe at the beach. The children learned what to do if they saw a dog, how to respond if they noticed something unfamiliar, and the importance of staying within our set boundaries. After this, the children excitedly explored the beach, collecting items that caught their interest. We discussed fascinating natural treasures such as sea glass, barnacles, and how stones and shells can stick together over time. The children then organised their collections into groups, confidently explaining their reasons for sorting shells, stones, and feathers in different ways. Some children had the opportunity to paddle in the water and even try catching the waves—lots of smiles and laughter all around! A special moment followed when each child chose a stone, made a wish, and threw it into the sea. To end our session, we shared a mindful moment together. As if by magic, the sun came out for just one minute, and we all felt its warmth on our faces—a truly memorable way to finish our time at the beach. We are so proud of the children for their curiosity, teamwork, and enthusiasm throughout this special experience!
World Book Day
This year’s Book Door competition has been a wonderful celebration of creativity, reading, and teamwork across the school—and what a challenge it was for our judges to choose the winners! The standard was incredibly high, with every class putting in fantastic effort, imagination, and care. Narrowing it down was no easy task. A huge congratulations to our winning classes! Year 3 Lobster Class impressed the judges with their thoughtful focus on re-reading books they have already loved. Their door encouraged children to revisit favourite stories in a fresh and exciting way, cleverly using fun QR links to bring books to life. It was an engaging and interactive display that truly captured the joy of reading. Year 3 Starfish Class took a different approach, celebrating the much-loved Mr Men series. Their door was bursting with colour and personality, and what made it even more special was that every child contributed to the final piece. If you look closely, you might even spot a familiar face—Mrs Bolter makes a surprise appearance! Finally, our Year 5 winners created a vibrant showcase of the wide range of books, genres, and authors they are currently enjoying. Their door reflected their diverse reading interests and highlighted just how enthusiastic they are about discovering new stories. All of the winning classes worked incredibly hard, and their dedication really shone through. The excitement doesn’t stop there—the children are absolutely buzzing to spend their prize money on new books to add to their very own micro-library with Mrs Bolter. What a fantastic way to keep the love of reading growing! Well done to all involved—it truly was a celebration to remember.
Nursery
This week we have enjoyed looking at the growth/change in our caterpillars. We have enjoyed talking about the changes and have been asking lots of questions about them. We have also enjoyed lots of different play in the garden which is not only helping our gross motor skills but also our fine motor movements. On Friday we learnt about why we have red nose day and talked about helping other people.
REMINDER: Thank you for attending parents evening this week it was so lovely to see so many of you.
Letters sent home this week
Reception
This week we have enjoyed learning about height and comparing how tall we are with each other using the correct mathematical language, short, shorter than, tall, taller than. We have also been measuring the height of a variety of objects in the classroom using numberblocks. In English, some children have been writing amazing stories, and a selected few have been entered into a school competition. In science we have continued to watch our caterpillars grow, and we also enjoyed watching and discussing frog spawn and learning about the life cycle of a frog.
Letters sent home this week
Year 1
Year 1 have worked very hard in English this week, creating independent sentences based on their favourite animal. In maths, the children are working on number lines and using them correctly to identify missing numbers in number problems. In science, the children have continued to observe our frogspawn. We now have tadpoles! We are very excited to see when they change into froglets. Thank you to all the parents/carers who came to Parents Evening. It was lovely to see you all and discuss how well your child is working in class.
REMINDER: Make sure your child has their reading book in school every day please. PE kits will be going home next week. Please make sure that they are washed and checked. All items must be labelled so we can keep everything safe.
Letters sent home this week
Year 2
Year 2 have had a great week, Mrs Head’s English group made biscuits and then wrote the instructions to help other children make biscuits. Mrs Britton and Mrs Van Den Berg’s group have been learning about the story of The Ugly Duckling and structuring and writing sentences about what happens. In science, the children have been learning about habitats and designing their own habitats ready for the next lesson. In the next science lesson, the children will be bringing their habitat designs to life- using creative materials and applying what they have learned.
REMINDER: Please remember to make sure your child has their reading book in every day.
Letters sent home this week
Year 3
This week Year 3 have started the topic of persuasive writing in English and have been learning about circuits in Design and Technology. They have also been tackling their NFER tests in reading, maths and spelling, with good concentration and trying their best, which has been great to see. REMINDER: Keep practising spellings, TTR and reading with your child as often as you can. It all helps. Thankyou.
Letters sent home this week
Year 4
This week year four have been completing NFER tests in reading, maths and spelling. The children have done some amazing concentration and have used their skills well! In our English lessons we have discussed how to recount an event, our trip to Indi Rock. The children sequenced the recount and used past tense vocabulary. Maths has been lots of revision and maths games to remind children of all the amazing knowledge that they already have!
REMINDER: TTR should be completed at home if possible. If the children do not have access to their TTR account they can be tested on their times tables in many various ways! The children should also be reading every day at home whether this is to an adult or on their own. They should then record this in their journals.
Letters sent home this week
Year 5
This week Year 5 have been completing lots of NFER test papers in Reading, Maths, Spelling and GPS. The children have worked hard and concentrated well, so well done Year 5! In English, we have been writing some short stories that have utilised our imagination and descriptive skills. In Maths, we have continued with our decimals and percentages unit and have been understanding percentages, looking at how these relate to fractions and decimals. This week, we took out Art lesson outside! The children loved exploring how they could take a ‘trick’ photo, changing the perspective, to make one of them look smaller than another person.
REMINDER: Please ensure your child has a suitable PE kit with them on a Wednesday and Thursday, our spare PE kit is very limited. Please strive to read with your child and record this in their home school diaries.
Letters sent home this week
Year 6
In English this week, the children have been learning which writing skills should be included in a successful non-chronological report. In history, they have learned about the many ways in which the ancient Greeks have left a lasting legacy on our world today. Recently in English, the children wrote some great balanced arguments on whether social media should be banned for under 16s. The government have now opened a consultation for both parents and children to decide whether they will implement the ban in the UK. Please follow the link below if you or your child are interested in completing the survey. Growing up in the online world: a national consultation - GOV.UK
REMINDER: Please remember that long hair needs to be tied back for school. Children should also have black shoes only for school.
Letters sent home this week
Music
Diary Dates:
- Junior Music Festival – Cliffs Pavilion - 8th June – KS2 Choir
Instrumental Lessons Tuesday Guitar - Mr Brown Wednesday Guitar – Mr Elliott Wednesday Keyboard – Mr Hockey Wednesday Drums – Mr Peters
French
This week, year one have enjoyed learning about undersea creatures; year three have learned about school rules in French; year four have been learning months and birthdays in French.
PE & Sport
The year 1 football team went to Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Leigh on Sea for a friendly match. The children had a great time on the minibus and loved getting muddy as we played! Sorry about the mud! We came away with a loss but, memories were made and fun was had.
Online Safety
Violent clips, online ‘wars’, and shock-value challenges can spread rapidly across social media feeds – often appearing in front of young people who weren’t actively looking for them. This guide explains how algorithms, messaging groups and viral trends can expose children to real-world violence online, sometimes normalising harmful behaviour or encouraging risky offline actions. It also highlights the emotional, social and legal risks linked to engaging with violent content. From anxiety and community fear to the dangers of sharing or promoting violent posts, the guide offers practical advice for parents and educators on discussing online safety, understanding the law, and helping young people respond positively and responsibly.
Second Hand Uniform
Our Uniform shop is located within the front reception area of the school and is open Monday-Friday 8.30am - 4.00pm. All items are 50p each (cash only please). We always have a good selection of skirts, trousers, jumpers, tops, dresses and P.E items. Please ask at the office to point you in the right direction.
Donations
We always welcome school uniform donations for us to sell at our school uniform shop. Could we please ask that the clothes are in good, clean condition. All items can be dropped off at the school office between 8.30am - 4.00pm. Thank you so much for doing this for the school as it helps our parents out tremendously.
Attendance
Contact us
Please ensure the school is kept informed of the circumstances for any absence, that way you will know if an absence has been authorised or unauthorised. If you need to talk to someone for advice on a planned absence or about support with difficulties around pupil attendance or punctuality, please do not hesitate to contact the Attendance Team. You will need to speak to, Mrs Dowd our Attendance Administrator or Mrs D Morris our Assistant Principal and Senior Leader for Attendance, you can also pop in to the school office to request to speak to one of us face to face, alternatively you call the school or send us an email to attendance@pgps.porticoacademytrust.co.uk we are here and we are always happy to help!
School Lunch
Week 3
Monday
- Beef & Bean Cilli with Steamed Rice
- Vegan Bean Chilli with Steamed Rice
- Pasta with Tomato & Vegetable Sauce
- Sweetcorn & Carrots
- Jam Sponge
Tuesday
- Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza with Spiced Baked Wedges
- Homemade Margherita Pizza with Spiced Baked Wedges
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Sweetcorn & Broccoli
- Spiced Carrot Cake
Wednesday
- Herby Roast Chicken with Gravy
- Roasted Vegetable & Lentil Loaf with Gravy
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Roast Potatoes, Carrots & Seasonal Greens
- Chocolate & Beetroot Brownie
Thursday
- Beef Meatballs in a Roasted Tomato & Basil Sauce with Pasta
- Vegan Bean Bolognaise with Pasta & Garlic Bread
- Wholemeal Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
- Steamed Peas & Carrots
- Oaty & Sultana Cookie
Friday
- Fish Fingers, Chips & Ketchup
- Vegetable Burger with Chips & Ketchup
- Pasta with Squash & Tomato Sauce
- Baked beans & Peas
- Fruit Jelly
Served Daily
- Pabulum Salad Bar
- Fresh Fruit
- Yoghurt
- Jelly
Cost of Living
Click here to access cost of living advice from Southend City Council. It contains information on housing support, energy cost advice and benefits and support for those with children.
Credits:
Created with images by Fabio Principe - "A diary open with instruments for writing. Pencil, eraser and notebook on white background. Close up of a wooden pen orange and black, an eraser green and a booklet black. " • Ekaterina Pokrovsky - "French national flag" • Pungu x - "Username and password (Login) with biometric identification fingerprint scanner, encryption for technology cyber security internet and networking system. Businessman hand typing notebook (Laptop)." • Pixel-Shot - "School uniform on color background" • Tetiana - "Generative AI picture of delicious food meal in school canteen" • Vitalii Vodolazskyi - "Cost of living written in a notebook and calculations of home finances."